Pattern
Weather verbs are impersonal — used only in the third person singular: plouă (it's raining), ninge (it's snowing), e cald (it's hot), e frig (it's cold).
Explanation
Romanian, like most European languages, uses impersonal verbs for weather. There is no real subject ("it" in English is just a placeholder; Romanian doesn't need it). Plouă (it's raining), ninge (it's snowing), tună (it's thundering), fulgeră (lightning is flashing). These verbs only ever appear in the third person singular.
For temperature and conditions, Romanian uses e (it is) + adjective: e cald (it's hot), e frig (it's cold), e răcoare (it's cool), e însorit (it's sunny), e înnorat (it's cloudy). Note: there's no subject pronoun.
To talk about past weather: a plouat (it rained), a nins (it snowed). For the future: o să plouă (it will rain), o să ningă (it will snow). The verbs stay in third person singular always.
Examples
| Romanian | English |
|---|---|
| Plouă afară. | It's raining outside. |
| Iarna ninge des. | In winter it snows often. |
| Astăzi e cald și însorit. | Today it's hot and sunny. |
| E frig dimineața. | It's cold in the morning. |
| Ieri a plouat toată ziua. | Yesterday it rained all day. |
Common mistakes
- Adding a subject: El plouă makes no sense — weather verbs are subjectless.
- Conjugating for person: Eu plouă is wrong; only third-person plouă exists.
- Using "este" + verb: Este plouă is wrong; just plouă.